i learned the hard way also...i no longer have floor mats on the driver side of "any" of my vehicles...happened in my 1991 F-150, 1990 GT, 1993 Lx, 01 GT and my 2003 chevy silverado HD
sucks
i went with catted x because in my county the state troopers will look under sports cars to check for cats....1500 dollar minimum 1st time offense
the power difference is minimal on a mild setup....i've made over 400hp with catted h-pipes on 302's